Belgium Unveils Restored Landmark Atomium

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Belgium unveiled a gleaming restoration of the Atomium on Friday, returning the country's most photographed monument — a 335-foot stainless-steel model of an iron crystal — to its 1958 World's Fair shine after two years of work.

The nine spheres, each 59 feet across and linked by escalator tubes, had dulled and rusted since the structure's last facelift. Workers stripped off the old aluminum skin and replaced it with stainless steel panels designed to outlast the building's next half-century.

"It was built for six months and it has stood for 47 years," said a spokesman for the renovation, which cost about $30 million, most of it public money. "Now it is built for good."

The Atomium was the symbol of Expo '58, the first world's fair after World War II, when Belgium wanted to proclaim its faith in science and the atomic age. Engineers designed it as an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

Inside, the renovation added exhibition space, a restaurant in the top sphere with a panoramic view of Brussels, and a lighting system that will wash the spheres in color after dark — a feature officials promise will make it a beacon over the city.

The reopening drew a crowd of schoolchildren and nostalgia-minded Belgians who queued for the escalators that climb the legs of the crystal. "I came in 1958 as a boy," said one visitor. "It looked like the future then. It still does."

The monument has appeared in films, stamps and millions of tourist snapshots, and it has long anchored Brussels' Heysel district, where the old exhibition halls still host trade fairs.

Officials expect the renovated landmark to draw more than 600,000 visitors a year — double its pre-renovation figure — when it reopens to the public in February.